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Tuesday, July 26, 2011

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm spending this week on stay-cation. Hubby is on leave, and the kids are with their grandparents. I love my children dearly, but sometimes it's nice to have a little break from being a mom 24/7.

Of course there are things about my children that I don't miss: the fighting in the backseat of the car, the refusals to get dressed in the morning, the whining about summer boredom. But there are definitely things about those little munchkins that I do miss. Here are my...

Top 10 Reasons I Miss My Kids

10) Their smiles

9) Watching as they come down the stairs in the morning and search the house for the puppy because all they want to do is play with him

8) Giggles

7) Checking in on them as they sleep (And yes, even though they're ages 7 and nearly 4, I still watch for the rise and fall of their chests to make sure they're still breathing.)

Monday, July 25, 2011

Before summer started, Mr. Roller Coaster and I were planning an adult only vacation. He took leave, and we made arrangements for his parents to watch the kids. After discussing our vacation options, we decided to be spontaneous (well, as spontaneous as a couple can be when they have to be spontaneous within a particular time frame). The plan was to pack light, head over to the nearest Space A terminal, and hop on the first flight to Europe. No kids! No hotel reservations! No plans! We were going to carpe the heck out of that diem!

And then this little guy came along.

It's a lot tougher to carpe diem with an 11 week old puppy.

But Mr. Roller Coaster is still on leave, and as of yesterday, our kids are living it up at Camp Grandparents. So it seems our Vacation has turned into a Stay-cation.

Yes, we're staying home. No Space A flights. No backpacking through Europe. Just home. But I'm learning that home is a completely different place when you don't have to worry about entertaining children, cooking dinner, or booking babysitters. The possibilities are endless. My biggest question is:

What should we do?!

Have you ever had a stay-cation? What would you do if you had a weeklong stay-cation?﻿

Friday, July 22, 2011

I also wanted to let you know that I will no longer be posting the Weekly Roundup host in a separate post every Friday. Instead I'm just going to add the host's link in the "Mil Spouse Weekly Roundup" tab at the top of my page. So if you ever need to know who the host is, make sure you check there!

Thursday, July 21, 2011

If you're a parent, you've probably heard a lot of talk lately about the "summer slide." Basically that's when kids go on summer vacation and lose some of the academic progress they've made during the previous school year. But it seems that my kids aren't the only ones in my house who need to continue exercising their brains while school is out. I'm suffering from the summer slide myself.

During the craziness of the last couple of weeks of the school year I ambitiously made a list of all the things I wanted to do this summer. Catch up on doctors' appointments. Import, organize, and print all the forgotten photos on my camera. Tackle junk drawers. Get a puppy. Get in shape. Take my kids on exciting and educational field trips. Plan, attend, and have a blast at my BFF's bachelorette party. And write, write, write!

I'm doing pretty well on most of the items on my summer list. But there's one task I haven't quite been able to check off: the write, write, write part.

Days pass, and it'll hit me during spinning class or a Wal-Mart shopping spree that I can't even remember how long it's been since I sat down in front of the computer to write. And I got to thinking the other day...why am I not writing? What am I doing with my free time, that free time I envisioned I'd be filling with endless flowing words?

I'm enjoying my summer that's what I'm doing. I'm eavesdropping on my kids as they play with each other in their rooms. I'm loving on my new puppy. I'm watching my husband transform our backyard. I'm visiting with friends. I'm reading magazines. I'm training for a half marathon. I'm watching movies. I'm drinking wine. I'm taking advantage of every minute I have until the school year starts again and my family returns to our normal life of alarm clocks, packed lunches, lesson plans, and homework.

I'm disappointed in myself that I haven't started the novel that's stuck in my head or sent out manuscripts of my revised children's book, but it will happen when it happens. Summer is only halfway over so I'm not giving up hope yet. In the meantime, I plan to keep riding that summer slide and hope I can jumpstart my brain every now and then to write about all the fun I'm having.

What have you been doing this summer?

Have you been keeping up with your blogging or have your summer activities been keeping you too busy?

Monday, July 11, 2011

Last week I wrote about picking out a puppy and the heartbreak our family felt when that puppy died from Parvo. Well, thanks to a very determined husband, we found a beautiful, happy, healthy puppy that I instantly fell head over heals in love with.

Introducing Gunner, the newest member of the Roller Coaster family (and the cutest black lab in the whole wide world)!

Gunner had no problems settling in, and we're having so much fun getting to know each other. The kids love him so much that sometimes I have to tell them to leave him alone for awhile. I'm sleep deprived from middle of the night potty trips, and my hands are covered in puppy teeth marks, but he's worth every bit of it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a nap. Like they say, mommy should sleep when the baby sleeps!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

I'm always on the lookout for good music. And for me, what makes good music even better is when the artist turns out to be a great person.

Meet Ryan Weaver. He's a country music artist who proudly serves as an active duty soldier, Chief Warrant Officer 3, in the United States Army. And he has a pretty incredible story.

Ryan was adopted at 10 months old, along with his older brother Aaron, by the Weaver family. Ryan grew up living all over the state of Florida, one of eight siblings, and the youngest of three Weaver boys. Older brothers Steve and Aaron joined the military and attended flight school. When his time came, Ryan followed in their shoes. Three Weaver boys. Three Army Warrant Officers. Three helicopter pilots.

Ryan’s brother Aaron died in 2004 when his Black Hawk was shot down by enemy fire in Iraq. At that time Ryan was also deployed in Iraq as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. Ryan certainly understood mortality and the risks of combat, after all, Aaron had survived the bloody 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia that became the basis for the movie, Black Hawk Down. When Aaron died, however, something changed for Ryan Weaver. He returned from combat and took a position training the next generation of Army aviators and officers at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and has not piloted a Black Hawk since that fateful day.

Now Ryan is more than an active duty service member and a country music star, but he is also one of the many country music singers supporting Blue Star Families with their Suicide Prevention PSA to prevent suicide among our military and their families.

So my featured song for this week's What's YOUR Song Linkup with Goodnight Moon is called "I'm That Guy" by Ryan Weaver. But make sure you check out his other songs (click here). And definitely check him out and "like" him on Facebook!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

If you read my post earlier today, you'd know how excited I was at the prospect of getting a puppy. You'd also know that the puppy we picked out was diagnosed with Parvo and hospitalized, but was responding to treatment.

Sadly, I learned a few hours ago that our puppy died.

I wanted to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers and lovely comments. We're back in the puppy search, and I'm hoping I can still tell you to stay tuned for puppy pictures.

I love dogs. I had a Great Dane when I was a kid, and Mr. Roller Coaster and I had a chocolate lab who died a few years ago. I can't imagine my kids growing up without a dog, but thanks to the craziness of military life, the time was never right to bring a puppy home.

But kind of like having a baby, the perfect time to buy a puppy doesn't exist. So Mr. Roller Coaster and I decided that this was as good a time as any, and before I knew it, we were calling a breeder to make arrangements for the cutest puppy in the whole wide world to join our family.

We kept the puppy a secret from the kids while we picked out a name and purchased doggy necessities. Mr. RC and I were so excited, not only for ourselves, but for Big and Little C who have been begging us for a dog pretty much ever since our retriever died. When Mr. RC left last week to pick the puppy up, I could hardly contain my excitement as I waited for the phone call that our newest baby was on its way home.

My heart broke as Mr. RC told me that the puppy we had lovingly chosen had been diagnosed with Parvo, a highly contagious and deadly virus. He returned the puppy to the breeder, who immediately hospitalized the pup as well as several others in the litter. I was devastated. I had already fallen in love with this dog I had never even met. And I was so disappointed that we'd have to start our puppy search all over again.

But Mr. RC never gave up hope and kept in contact with the breeder. Although our puppy is still in the hospital, he's responding to treatment. The fact that he's still alive is a very good sign. It looks like we may still get our puppy after all!

So keep your fingers crossed for us and stay tuned for puppy pictures!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

The other day I was looking through all of my Top 10 Tuesdays and realized, oh my gosh, I've written almost 70 top 10 lists! Wow, maybe I should apply for a job with David Letterman.

I started putting together a list of my favorite lists (yes, I really like lists) to come up with today's Top 10. And yes I did notice that most of my favorites are military related (what can I say, I love being a military spouse!) and 2 were written by my son (maybe I should have him write for me more often). Anyway, here are my...

Monday, July 4, 2011

"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."

~Elmer Davis

There's so much to say about Independence Day, but for once I thought I'd let someone else do the talking. Click on the link below for some 4th of July facts compiled by VA Home Loans. (I tried to embed it but it's just too full of facts to fit!)

Friday, July 1, 2011

I'm thrilled to announce that I'll be writing for the brand new Fort Bragg Patch at Patch.com!

My first post, Home is Where the Military Sends You, is live. I'd love it if you could head over and visit me and maybe click on "like" or "recommend" or even leave a comment if you have a minute. Thanks!